Question about Star-San

[Mylo]

I spent an afternoon on the phone with Jim Jennings at 5Star discussing cleaning and sanitizing practices for the homebrewer. I discussed my cooling method (CFC recirced back to the boil kettle until at pitching temps)

The part of the convo that stuck with me as most important, was the overall cleaning/sanitation regiment that he recommended. After brew day, he recommended a simple fresh water rinse. Then on brew day, a caustic cleaning, followed by an acid sanitizing process. What this meant to me was PBW with hot water cleaning followed by a saniclean sanitization cycle.

I have always been concerned about cleanliness/sanitation of my cfc. The first time i used this process, I was amazed at the crud that came out of the cfc (I had been using oxyclean for my cleaning process). Using this process has given me more faith that I am sanitary inside everything (pump, tubing, connectors, cfc, etc...)

So, (As stated before) Use pbw for cleaning and star san/saniclean for sanitation.

My cleaning process is just as discribed above - but I do it right after the brew session. I would rather hit everything while it is still wet vs. waiting for it to dry and do it before brewing.


Mylo

[Brandt]

Ditto on cleaning the plate chiller. I backflush immediately after chilling with star san. Then, on brew day, I run oxy clean through it and am amazed at how much crud still resides. This is followed by a rinse, then a cycle of star san just before running the wort through it.

I never rinse star san, even with "exessive" foam. Never had an off flavor.

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

You should let the guy at the homebrew store know that it's not a cleaner. Hopefully he will appreciate the information and point people towards a 2 step, clean-then sanitize process.

[Jim5*]

To be more specific, one story I heard about someone using PBW, who had used another item herein mentioned, had this to say (names withheld to protect the, um, homebrewer involved :

"I had a corny keg I had used as a primary fermenter. After racking the beer out of it, I forgot to clean it. About two weeks had gone bye before I recognized it was still full of trub etc.... Being lazy, I pushed it aside because I just didn't want to deal with it.

Another 2 weeks pass, and I get your package. I figured I would test your PBW against that keg!! I put one packet in about 3 gallons of warm tap water and let it it sit over night in the keg. I turned the keg upside down right before bed last night.

This morning I poured the PBW solution out of the keg and was amazed. EVERYTHING WAS SPOTLESS. I didn't even have to scrub at all. So, I am sending this to thank you for your advice and sample of PBW. I will make this a part of my cleaning regiment."

So, 30 day old+ stuff basically evaporated by PBW, sweet. We'll challange any other safe homebrew cleaner to compare. So, as for "will do the same thing as ..." we would differ; PBW carries FIVE US Patents and introduced disruptive technology to the industry when created. Many similar products have been brought out since then but if you are not using PBW, well, you are NOT using PBW.

And to affirm, yes, PBW is the cleaner and Star San is the Sanitizer. Because Star San is also an acid solution, it does help compliment PBW with additional mineral soil clearance, though unlikely that any remains after a proper PBW wash. As for Mylo doing his cleaning right after brewing that's great, just remember to again sanitize just prior to using the equipment again to deal with incidental contamination which may have occurred in the interim.